Ways to Contextualize

As we continue to explore the subject of contextualization, a blatant question stands out: How do I contextualize my message here among European Russians? It is this question that makes this whole conversation move from the theoretical to the practical. So this week, I wanted to share something with you I found that is a great example of contextualization among Russian speakers in Latvia. It is a contextualization attempt to bridge the gospel to the lost in Orthodox societies.

John writes, “We have a new resource that connects to the Sunday liturgy Gospel reading of the Orthodox lectionary cycle. We took a cue from [another missionary] in Poland who came up with something like this for the Catholic lectionary cycle. We use the specified Gospel passage and ask three sets of questions (observation, interpretation and application). We previously did a small-scale 6-month trial with Orthodox calendar materials. Then I asked [my wife] to write up the 60 or so weeks needed for a full, long-term resource. Russian Orthodox use a one-year lectionary cycle, but some things change each year due to different Easter and holiday dates. We have the materials translated. We also have a web functioning to serve the pages on a schedule.”

This set of bible study materials in Russian can be found on the web site he recently set up: radost.lv. John says that “although we are still adding to this web site, the ‘Sunday reading’ resources are already available. There are a myriad of ‘evangelistic’ web sites for Russian language folks. We are only focusing on serving the Sunday reading resource, our Genesis 1-22 study, then later Colossians and eventually a Hebrews-based resource.”

John believes that this series is a good step toward contextualization. “From a contextualization perspective, we are becoming more and more convinced that we need to be connecting people to Scripture narratives and not just popcorn bags of selected verses. We need try using ‘Bible narrative videos’ (narratives with words) in lieu of physical icons and themed collages of scripture snapshots. The Sunday readings are often little narratives. Our questions invite people to look at Scripture regardless of their denominational identity.” I would agree with John wholeheartedly! If you have a chance to read the book, Light from the Christian East by James R. Payton, I would strongly encourage it. The way that our Eastern friends understand truth has been influenced by different historical factors than the West, so it’s helpful to know how to properly frame a contextualized presentation of the gospel. Click here for the “Prologue” and “Historical Perspectives” chapters in .pdf files.

This website and bible study series is being rolled out in several places in eastern Latvia, and according to John, “People seem to like it. We try to equip believers to take God's Word to family, relatives and friends. I just had a call from one of my Riga partner pastors asking to use this resource. It was a God thing, as he was following up on some example materials I shared during the previous trial period.”

This contextualization approach is very user-friendly. John explains, “If you need to print one of the lessons: (1) Go to the individual page for that day, then (2) Print the page from your web browser. The print format should be okay without any changes. You might want to turn off the print page "header" and "footer" information which your browser inserts. The web server already has pages loaded for several months. The web server releases a new page 10 days before the Sunday it is to be used (on Thursday night at 01:00).” People can use the "Kontakt" page to send comments and feedback.